The present invention relates to a sectional rack, and more particularly to a sectional rack including vertical posts having an I-shaped cross section to allow horizontal shelves to connect to two lateral sides of the posts at the same height.
Sectional furniture has the advantages of easy storage and easy conveyance. However, the sectional furniture, after being assembled, does not always meet the space available in a room for the furniture. Consumers would apparently select sectional furniture that may be freely assembled to meet available space, and it appears that sectional racks and sectional cabinets could most satisfy the consumers"" need.
A sectional rack, developed at an early stage, uses fastening means to screw all components of the sectional rack together. These fastening means require tools to tighten them and therefore complicate the assembling of the sectional rack and cause inconvenience to the consumers. There is now a commercially available sectional rack including metal posts 10. The metal posts 10 are provided along their length with a plurality of vertically spaced annular grooves 13. Horizontal shelves 12 are connected to the posts 10 by engaging four short sleeves 14 provided at four corners of the shelves 12 with the posts 10. FIG. 1 is a sectional rack 1 assembled from such posts 10 and shelves 12. Please now refer to FIGS. 2 and 3. The shelf 12 is connected to the post 10 via an openable connecting member 11. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,676,263; 5,303,645; 5,174,676; 4,991,725; 4,799,818; 4,595,107; 4,546,887; and 4,763,799 all disclose sectional racks having structure similar to that shown in FIGS. 1 to 3.
When the sectional rack 1 is to be horizontally extended, two laterally adjacent shelves 12 must be connected to the same two posts by sequentially putting their short sleeves 14 around the posts 10. That is, any two laterally adjacent shelves 12 could not be located on the posts 10 at the same height, and there is a difference in height between them. This makes the assembled sectional rack 1 visually unbalanced and not convenient for holding things.
It is therefore desirable to develop a sectional rack of which horizontally adjacent shelves could be supported on the posts at the same height to provide horizontally freely extendable areas on the rack.
A sectional rack according to the present invention includes a plurality of vertical posts, a plurality of horizontal shelves, and a plurality of connecting members. Each of the vertical posts is a hollow post and has a generally I-shaped cross section with two substantially rectangular and width-expanded side portions and a width-narrowed middle portion extending between the two side portions. The horizontal shelves are connected to the two side portions of the vertical posts so that two adjacent shelves located at two sides of the post are at the same height, making the rack assembled from the shelves and the posts visually balanced and more attractive.
The connecting member of the present invention has a generally U-shaped cross section suitable for embracing one side portion of the post. And, the shelf of the present invention has short sleeves provided at four corners thereof. These short sleeves have a generally U-shaped cross section suitable for each embracing a connecting member, so that the connecting member is downward and inward compressed by the U-shaped short sleeve to firmly attach to the post and support the shelf on the post.
The U-shaped short sleeves of the shelves allow two laterally adjacent shelves to be horizontally connected to two side portions of the posts at the same height.
The posts of the sectional rack of the present invention are provided at their two side portions with a plurality of spaced horizontal slots or grooves for receiving a plurality of ribs provided at inner surfaces of the connecting members, so that the connecting members can be firmly attached to the posts by engagement of the ribs with the slots or grooves.